A Quick Makeover

18 Mar

There is an area of our garden adjacent to our neighbor, left unattended for some time, being of sight, hence, out of mind. So at the beginning of the year, I told hubby it a needs a makeover. But we have been busy, and the area was still left unattended.

Finally, there was an opportunity last week. And within a day, the area was cleared and spruced up. We kept it to a minimum to be Zen-like. It’s a nice refreshing change. Too bad this look only works for this area and not the other parts of our garden.

Before and after the makeover

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First in Two Years

15 Mar

I went for a body massage yesterday, my first after two years under lockdown because of the pandemic. And it felt so good as the masseur worked out all my kinks and knots accumulated during this time.

But it is not good to play golf the next day after a massage. Throughout the game, the after-massage sores flared, and I felt it, thus hitting quite a few errant shots.

So the game this morning was not as sharp. Oh well, I guess one can’t have it good all the time. But for me, the massage was more of a necessity than playing a good round today, and I’m glad I went for the much-needed pampering.

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Phenomenal Putting

14 Mar

Lately, I have been alternating my putters for my golf games. This routine started right after a club medal game in October last year when I three-putted five holes, and I was so disgusted by it. The Scotty Cameron Squareback was put aside immediately for the Peanut Putter for subsequent games.

Things worked out fine at the beginning. But when the Peanut was not performing to my dismay, making too many three-putts, I had to retire it to make way for Scotty again. So I found myself alternating my putter choice now and then, and this pattern has been ongoing since. One putter can work like magic, but when it falters with time, it makes way for the other. Putting is not just a skill by itself but also a recalibration process periodically.

Despite switching now and then, my putting has improved, and it shows. In my latest game yesterday, I was phenomenal putting from all distances, making ten one-putts! My flight mates were left speechless many a time, witnessing my clutch putting. I was, of course, elated at my ability. Not often enough do I perform so well. I hope this streak can continue.

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Let the Felting Begin, Part 2

11 Mar

It is nice when I don’t have to worry about supply when I’m felting. When I first started on this new hobby, subliminally, I was mindful of not having enough wool regardless of color and was making tiny characters.

Now, this predicament is no longer an issue to bother me. The second turtle character, completed in a day, was much bigger than the first one but equally just as cute.

Bigger but just as cute
Turtle number two

Perhaps from now on, I should start felting bigger characters instead of tiny ones? They are easier to handle after all, and supply is no longer an issue. Let’s see what I can make next. Such fun I’m having!

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Oh, Silly Me!

8 Mar

The badge in the Fitness app showed the International Women’s Day challenge, and I wanted to attain it to add to all the other badge challenges that I have accumulated. So I went for my morning walk. And I clocked in more than the minimum required, which was 20 minutes or more.

But I did not get the badge. I was puzzled.

Why am I not awarded what I achieved? Is there something wrong with my AppleWatch? Is it not syncing? I even unpaired my watch with my iPhone XR to fix the issue. Hmm, something’s wrong.

Sigh, oh well, a missed opportunity.

This morning, the badge was still showing in the Fitness app. And a friend sent a Happy International Women’s Day wish. It is today, not yesterday! Oh, silly me. I met the challenge a day too early! Hahaha. Well, when the rain lets up, I will claim the badge today, the rightful day to celebrate International Women’s Day. Have an incredible day today, ladies!

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On a New Mission, Part 3

7 Mar

The daily walk routine is not very daily on non-golfing days. The weather has not been kind and disrupts the schedule. Thank goodness, on golfing days, the rain comes down only after the game.

Despite the disruptions, my mission to lose all that fat gained during Chinese New Year has been encouraging. Maybe it’s not just fat but water retention, and I should sweat it out?

Whatever it is, this morning’s walk showed some encouraging numbers as I have lost almost two pounds. Another three to five pounds to shed would be ideal. I have to keep it up, rain or shine, to complete this mission.

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Let the Felting Begin

4 Mar

So I had a little bit of time despite being busy with office work, a new design project that cropped up. But to work on my miniature would take too much of my time, and I needed some creative inspiration – I started felting a new character.

Look at all that wool!

I opened up the latest wool purchase to use and was amazed at the quantity. My eyes bugged out, and my heart soared! So much wool, I’m in seventh heaven because now, I don’t have to worry about not having enough of the base color. I can even use all this off-white wool as the innards of a shape and add color to the outer layer. Cool!

And so, as planned with this approach, my latest character, a tortoise, was felted with the off-white wool for the overall shape, and the green color wool added for the shell. It’s another cutie pie to my growing list of cutie pies.

My latest creation

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The Latest Purchases

1 Mar

My latest online shopping purchase is not my usual DIY miniature kit but wool for felting! As there are already several miniatures waiting for me, I decided there was no need to hoard any more sets.

The need for consistency

This change in purchasing pattern is because felting requires one color in abundance as the base. Case in point – recently, I made so many Miffy characters that had different base colors, from white and off-white to pink – I needed to be more consistent. Hence this latest purchase. It looks like felting is giving my crafting miniatures a run for its money here.

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Mixed Yield

28 Feb

It has been raining a lot, unusual for this time of the year, and it’s creating a lot of havoc for our garden. It gets flooded when the rain comes down fast and hard and does not drain away fast enough.

The two attempts to plant vegetables, feeble as it is, have failed partly because of the rain. The moist habitat has been attracting mealybugs and is detrimental to the overall garden space.

The eggplants have not seen further yield since the last puny harvest. As for the lady’s fingers, hubby got rid of them because he did not want the mealybugs to contaminate the other plants. So he planted some shrubs to utilize the area while figuring out what to grow next.

On a brighter note, the papaya tree next to our frangipani tree has been in abundance! So much that sometimes, the garden squirrels help themselves to the fruits. We’re not complaining as there’s plenty for everyone, but we wouldn’t want to encourage the squirrels to keep eating the fruits on the tree.

Our mixed yield garden

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Stalled for a Reason

25 Feb

DIY project number 23 was moving along well until Mom came over to stay recently. She was very fascinated with all my earlier felted characters.

So I deviated from crafting miniatures to show her the felting process, and she was very impressed with my ability.

My felted Miffy family

From there onwards, I decided to continue felting and made more Miffy rabbits. This change turned out well as these characters fit nicely as students for the school setup of DIY project number 23!

DIY project number 23

Funny how things can fall into place nicely. Once all these ‘students’ are ready, I guess the school has to be done up quickly for the back-to-school in-person learning.

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